NEW YORK (AP) — Twelve news organizations on Sunday called on presumptive presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump to agree to debatessaying they were a “rich tradition” that had been part of every general election campaign since 1976.
While Trump, who is not participating in the Republican nomination debates, has expressed a willingness to face his rival in 2020, the Democratic president has not committed to debating him again.
Although invitations have not been officially issued, news organizations said it is not too early for each campaign to publicly say it will participate in the three presidential and one vice presidential forums designated by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.
“If there’s one thing Americans can agree on during this polarized time, it’s that the stakes in this election are extremely high,” the organizations said in a joint statement. “Against this backdrop, there is simply no substitute for candidates debating with each other and before the American people their visions for the future of our nation.”
ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, PBS, NBC, NPR and the Associated Press all signed the letter.
Biden and Trump debated twice in 2020. A third debate was canceled after Trump, then president, tested positive for COVID-19 and would not debate remotely.
Asked on March 8 if he would engage in debate with Trump, Biden said, “it depends on his behavior.” The president was visibly angry with his opponent in the first free debate of 2020, at one point saying, “Will you shut up?”
Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a letter last week that “we have already indicated that President Trump is willing to debate anytime, anywhere, anywhere – and the time to start those debates is now.”
They cited the seven Illinois Senate debates of 1858 between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, saying “certainly America today deserves as much.”
The Republican National Committee voted in 2022 to are no longer participating in forums sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The Trump campaign has not indicated it would stick to it, but there were some conditions. Campaign managers said the committee had chosen a “clearly anti-Trump moderator” in then-Fox News anchor Chris Wallace in 2020 and wanted assurances that committee debates were fair and impartial.
Trump’s campaign also wants the schedule moved, saying many Americans will have already voted by Sept. 16, Oct. 1 and Oct. 9, the dates of the three debates determined by the commission.
The Biden campaign declined to comment on the letter to news organizations, citing the president’s earlier statement. There was no immediate response from the Trump campaign.
But on Saturday, Trump held a rally in northeastern Pennsylvania with two podiums set up on stage: one for him to deliver a speech, the other to symbolize what he said was Biden’s refusal to debate him. The second chair had a poster that read, “Anytime. Everywhere. Any place.”
Midway through his campaign speech, Trump turned to the right and pointed to the second chair.
“We’ve got some, look at this, it’s for him,” he said. “See the podium? I challenge Crooked Joe Biden for a debate anytime, anywhere, anywhere. Right there. And we have to debate, because our country is going in the wrong direction so badly, and even though it’s usually a bit early, we have to debate. We have to explain to the American people what the hell is going on,” Trump said.
C-SPAN, NewsNation and Univision also joined the letter calling for debates. Only one newspaper, USA Today, added its vote. The Washington Post declined the affiliation request.
Broadcasters could certainly use the power that debates can bring. TV news ratings are down significantly from the 2020 campaign, although there are other factors, such as cable outages and the pandemic, that boosted interest in news four years ago.
There have been no Democratic debates this presidential cycle, and Trump’s refusal to participate in GOP forums has dampened interest in them.
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Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Schnecksville, Pa., contributed to this report.
